Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader returned to New Hampshire today (Thursday)
He came to jump start his campaign in the Granite State where he needs to collect 3 thousand signatures by mid August to get on the State ballot.
But as New Hampshire Public Radio's Mark Bevis reports, the veteran consumer activist may face an even tougher race this time than he did 4 years ago.
Ralph Nader insists he is not a spoiler.
The Independent Candidate for President says he wants to bring disillusioned voters back into the process.
And Nader says he will do that by raising the issues of economic, social and political justice.....issues he says the Democrats and Republicans shy away from.
tape:
this independent candidacy for president is going to get on the backs of the two major candidates, push the agenda, expose their generalities and their slogans and their evasions and connect more and more people into the electoral process who are now alieanated and either unwilling to even vote or simply assigning themselves the role of bystanders or spectators.
For the past four years Democrats have argued that Al Gore would be president today were it not for Nader's candidacy in 2000.
Gore lost New Hampshire to George Bush by less than 2% of the vote.
Had the former Vice President taken the Granite State, he would have had enough electoral votes to win the White House.
Political Science Professor Andy Smith of the UNH Survey Center says it's too simplistic to say that all the Nader votes would have otherwise gone to Gore.
TAPED INTERVIEW
Political Scientist Andy Smith runs the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center.
Ralph Nader needs to collect 3,000 signatures by Mid August to make it on the Ballot in New Hampshire.
He says he plans to have a campaign office here as well.
For NHPR News, this is Mark Bevis in Concord.
